As
the Easter season approaches, Christians contemplate the two greatest events in
human history: the death of the Lord Jesus in order to pay for our sins, as
well as His victorious resurrection from the grave.

The
resurrection of the Lord Jesus was a watershed event in the history of the
world.It was proof of His deity
(Acts 2:32, 36; Rom. 1:4).It was
proof that the payment for sin was complete and accepted by God (Rom. 4:25;
10:9; John 11:25).Finally, it was
proof that the Word of God is true.It is the basis of the Christian message (Rom. 1:4; 3:24,25; 5:9,10),
the fulfillment of Bible prophecy (Ps. 16:10, cf. Acts 2:22-32; 13:35-39), and
the gospel (I Cor. 15:1-4).

A
careful examination of the Scriptures reveals that the entire Trinity was
involved in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: the Father (Ps. 16:10; Acts
2:24,27,30,31; 13:30; Rom. 6:4; Eph. 1:19,20), the Son (John 2:19-22; 10:17,18),
and the Holy Spirit (Rom. 1:4; 8:11; I Pet. 3:18).

John
the Baptizer sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if He really was the coming
Messiah (Matt. 11:2,3).The Lord
Jesus responds by saying, 'Go and tell John the things which you hear and
see.The blind receive their sight
and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are
raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.And blessed is he who is not offended
because of Me' (11:4-6).

At
this point in Jesus's public ministry, there are two recorded accounts of
individuals being raised from the dead.The first is Jairus' daughter (Matt. 9:23-26 // Mark 5:35-43 // Luke
8:49-56) and the second is the son of the widow woman from Naim (Luke
7:11-16).Both miracles took place
in Galilee: the first in Capernaum and the second in Naim.How many unrecorded resurrections there
were, we do not know.When Jesus
sent out His twelve disciples to the lost sheep of the house of Israel He
gave them power to raise people from the dead (Matt. 10:8).

In
the first half of his gospel, the Apostle John records seven miracles, or
signs, to demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that
believing on Him, one could have eternal life (John 20: 30,31).The culminating miracle was the
resurrection of His friend Lazarus from the dead (John 11).

When
John wrote the gospel that bears his name, under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, his mind went back more than 60 years to this monumental event that he
had personally witnessed.He
records five Jewish burial practices, mourning customs, or a point of rabbinic
theology.A Jewish person reading
this gospel at the end of the First century AD would catch the significance to
these practices and customs right away.

The
Lord Jesus deliberately did not rush to the aid of his dying friend because He
wanted to show His disciples and the world, that He was Lord of Life and had
power over death.He came to
Bethany, on the backside of the Mount of Olives, on the fourth day after
Lazarus died.As He approached the
village, Martha, the sister of the deceased, went out to meet Jesus.Her sister, Mary, the text says, was
sitting in the house (11:20).

When
a Jewish person died, the body was prepared for burial and it was placed in the
grave soon after death.It was the
custom to bury within 24 hours.After, the family would sit in their house and mourn, receiving the
condolences of friends and neighbors for one week, this was called shiva.Mary
and Martha were practicing this custom.

The
second custom hinted at in this passage was visiting the tomb.Martha returned to the village and told
her sister that Jesus wanted to see her.He arose from her house and went to see Jesus.The mourners in the house thought she was going to visit the
tomb of her brother and weep (11:31).Tractate Semahot
('Mourning') says: 'One may go out to the cemetery for three days to inspect
the dead for a sign of life, without fear that this smacks of heathen
practice.For it happened that a man
was inspected after three days, and he went on to live twenty-five years; still
another went on to have five children and died later. (8:1).

The
tomb of Lazarus was outside the village of Bethany.Jesus approaches it and commands the people to take away the
stone (11:39).John recalled this
event and described the tomb as a cave with a stone placed against it
(11:38).It was a typical Jewish
burial practice to have a tomb hewn out of bedrock.In fact, archaeologists have found hundreds of Jewish rock-hewn
burial caves around Jerusalem, many of them on the Mount of Olives.When the Franciscans excavated Bethany
in the 1950's they found several Jewish rock-hewn burials outside the village.It was the practice to place a stone,
either round or square, in front of the entrance to the tomb.This stone was called a golal.

Rabbinic
theology will help illustrate the fourth point.When Jesus commanded the people to remove the stone, Martha
protested (I like the KJV rendering), "Lord he stinkest!ÓShe points out that her brother had
been dead four days and his body was beginning to rot (11:39).According to Rabbinic theology, the
body began to decompose after the third day in order to expiate, or be punished
for, the sins of the dead person.Jesus is about to demonstrate what He told the people in Jerusalem two
years prior to this occasion.'Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.For as the Father has life in Himself,
so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority
to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.Do not marvel at this; for the hour is
coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth
– those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who
have done evil, to the resurrection of the condemnation (5:25-29 NKJV).

After
the stone was removed, Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarua, come forth'
(11:43).The great evangelist of
the 19th century, D. L. Moody said, 'Jesus had to call Lazarus by
name because if he did not, everybody in the grave would have come forth!Ó

Verse 44 describes the final burial practice.Lazarus is bound hand and foot with
grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth.The Jewish burial practice was to wash the body, anoint it
with perfumes, then bind the hands and feet, as well as the jaw, in order to
prevent the extremities from flying all over the place when rigor mortis sets
in.

The resurrection of Lazarus was a powerful testimony to the deity of the
Lord Jesus and His ability to give eternal life to any and all who would put
their trust in Him.In fact, John
records that many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things
Jesus did, believed in him. (11:45), thus fulfilling the purpose of John's
gospel (20:30,31).Have you
trusted Him as your Savior?